I'm working on a baby hat, and I want to do something a little funky on this one. I'm using dark brown cotton yarn, and I want to put a small green rectangle in the middle of the forehead (4 stitches x 6 rows).

What's the easiest way to do this? I don't think Amy's video covers Intarsia on circular needles. I took a stab at switching to green yarn, knitting four stitches, and then knitting back to brown. Two problems with this:
o I'll end up with 24 loose ends to hide
o Four stitches isn't really enough to let the green yarn hold tension.

From what I can tell, it would have been smarter for me to simply knit the green stitches *in duplicate* over existing brown stitches. No loose ends, no switching colors, no fuss, no muss. Live and learn.

After reading your question last night, I spent about 4 or 5 dial-up hours downloading Amy's Fair Isle and Intarsia video's. This morning I viewed each of them and thought about your problem on circulars.

As you said in your follow-up, duplicating your stitches would probably be the most direct way of accomplishing the task.

I'd say only if you had a more complex pattern would it be worth considering Fair Isle or Intarsia.

You too might want to check out Amy's video's and decide for yourself.

Thanks, happenin. If this were intarsia on straight needles, I think I could handle it. On straights, the green yarn would be knit right to left, and I'd switch colors, leaving the green working end on the left. At the end of the row, I flip my work, knit some brown, and pick up the green working end at the *beginning* of the green block, right where I need it.

On circulars, though, it's a different story. Because I don't flip my work, when I get to the *second* row of green, the working end of the green yarn is in the wrong place-- at the *end* of the green stitches instead of the beginning.

From what I can tell from my quick Googling, the way around this on circulars is to flip the work and purl my way back to the beginning. Blech. :|

Yeah, I took a quick look at your Google links too. Although circular, it's overkill for your project and pattern. The simplest way would be to duplicate your stitch, especially if you don't want to waste experimentation time.

And, like you and Amy mention, Intarsia couldn't happen on circ's anyway.

It was in the back of my mind to write (yet another long) message about that issue with your green yarn which you just mentioned. I created my own workaround on straights and know it's not something everyone would agree with....but (maybe) worth a try on circulars?

Part of the problem is the cutting, which you wouldn't have to necessarily do until you finished up the piece, you could carry the brown (leaving horizontal bars as you go, like with Fair Isle) and pick up/drop the green like Intarsia (creating diagonal bars as you go). Within the wrong side, you can hand-adjust the tension where the colors meet up...just make sure to do it THEN.

Later, to finish up, you could cut the loose bars roughly in the middle (you'll know best as you look at your configuration) and tie the ends off (not super tight & not loose)...regardless of color, since it's on the wrong side. You could avoid some weaving in this way....but I understand a lot of people frown on this approach because you run the risk of losing some elasticity and could create puckering. I've done it already (on straights) and it saved time weaving....even if it's not the most technically proper thing to do.

On a small piece like you're doing, I doubt it would be a real problem.....but I would wash it once to make sure it's going to look as intended before I'd send it off to the intended wearer.